Less than two hours after being sworn in Wednesday afternoon for their first terms on the Cobb County school board, Randy Scamihorn and Brad Wheeler were elected chairman and vice chairman of the board.

MARIETTA — In his nearly 20 years as a superintendent, Cobb Schools’ Dr. Michael Hinojosa said he has never known a board to pick two, newly elected members to serve as chair and vice chair.

That changed Wednesday night, when the Cobb County School Board selected Randy Scamihorn to serve as chairman and Brad Wheeler as vice chairman.

“It’s a little out of the ordinary, but we’re going to work, and I’m sure they are good people, and I look forward to working with both of them,” Hinojosa said after the meeting. “Luckily, I have 20 years of experience, and we have some experienced board members, so we’ll make it work together.”

The two were sworn into office less than two hours before the vote, and both of them, who voted in favor of themselves for the positions, were approved for the seats 4-2. Additional support came from the 2012 chair Scott Sweeney and David Banks.

Tim Stultz, who represents southeast Cobb and said in recent weeks he was interested in the chair position, was nominated by Kathleen Angelucci to serve as chair and vice chair but only got one additional vote favoring his selection.

David Morgan abstained from voting in favor of any of the nominations.

“I would like to thank those that have a vote of confidence for me,” Scamihorn said after taking his new seat as board chief.

“I will certainly work very diligently and consistently to live up to those expectations,” he said. “For those who had another selection, I am going to work very hard to gain your confidence and look forward to working with all of you and moving the board forward as a whole.”

After the meeting, Scamihorn said he was approached in the last few weeks about serving as chair but did not say by whom.

“With my background in military, I said, ‘If needed, I’ll step up if I can serve in that capacity,’” he said, recalling the conversation when he was approached to serve as chair.

Wheeler, on the other hand, said after the meeting that he was surprised by the vote to select him as vice chairman but was also thankful.

In other business during the meeting, the board approved the 2013 calendar with amended changes regarding when it will meet in March, July and December.

The March 28 meeting was moved to March 21, the July 25 meeting to July 24 and the Dec. 12 to Dec. 11. In addition to the date changes, the members also approved starting the July and December meetings at 8:30 a.m. as opposed to the traditional 7 p.m. regular meeting.

Prior to the special called meeting, Banks, Morgan, Scamihorn and Wheeler were also officially sworn in to serve as board members for the next four years.

Scamihorn and Wheeler, both retired Cobb educators, were sworn in for their first term on the board and Banks and Morgan their second.

Scamihorn replaced northwest Cobb’s Lynnda Eagle, who announced last spring that she wouldn’t be running for re-election.

you're either idiot or stay-at-home mom that cant let her child grow up with you hovering over her every waking moment. Give it a rest and stop with the calendar non-sense. It was defeated. voted down multiple times so, let it die in peace already.

anonymous

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January 10, 2013

Don't really care which calendar is used. There are much larger issues than that issue.

# 1. How is the school going to pay it's bills next year?

# 2 - 10 Refer to number 1.

We can hope

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January 10, 2013

Here's hoping the new board members listen to what the teacher's needs are. All they've gotten in the last few years are pay cuts, furlough days, more paperwork, more meetings and lower morale.

The board really doesn't know how lucky they are that our teachers have been by and large compliant and tried to do what they could to make the best of a bad situation. Instead of the occasional bright spot, they've gotten higher priced meals and a large fee for their "educator" car tags. You would think they could have gotten a little consideration on things like that. But no, the board and GA govt. just put the knife in a little deeper, see how far they can push without killing them. When you've been treated as badly as teachers have and the stress levels are high, the little things can be magnified.

We can only hope for a turnaround, otherwise we'll be short a lot of good experienced educators soon.

anonymous

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January 10, 2013

All righhhhhhtttttttttt

Calendar calendar

Calendar calendar calendar

Disney vacations!

Disney university grads rejoice!

Smyrna Dad

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January 15, 2013

Lets not approach the calendar issue again. It just side tracks from all the other really important issues. Your off season rate to Disney and Pigeon Forge, etc. is not an important factor in educating our children.

I got to know Randy Scamihorn a bit during the election season. He is quite impressive. I think it's a good pick because I have a feeling that he will offer mature, cordial leadership and work towards getting disparate Board members to work together. Let's all give him a chance and the benefit of the doubt.

They might be "rookies" on the Board, but Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Scamihorn are certainly not rookies when it comes to education in Cobb. With all due respect to the Superintendent's experience, let's not dismiss the fact that Scamihorn and Wheeler both are retired Cobb administrators with a combined 50 years of educational experience between them, with the majority of it actually here in Cobb. Both men are honest, decent, and knowledgeable professional educators, and they will both be great additions to the Board. Under their leadership, I think we'll see some very positive changes for the District over the next two years. Congratulations !

Agreed John!...i'm ready for some new blood on the board...i've known Brad for over 20 years...He was a great coach and teacher and has the kids best interests at heart...Congrats to both of them!

Recently retired

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January 11, 2013

Praise to John Adams for supporting these two great men. I have the utmost confidence in them and look forward to positive changes in the new board. Maybe the Supertindent needs to learn to think and investigate before he opens his mouth and his ignorance falls out! Everything that comes from Texas isn't automatically great! Hiring Joe Sharp back in Cobb County is another example of the Superintendents acting without investigating.

Agreed!

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January 11, 2013

I so agree with you, John Adams. Let's go with some new blood and hope this board can play nice, get along and do what is in the best interest of the children of Cobb County. Congrats to the new Chair and Vice Chair!

Renee47

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January 10, 2013

I personally am happy to see the new members elected to these positions. It speaks volumes about the the quality of the remaining members of the board. And for Stultz to even think that he is qualified to serve as chair or vice-chair shows how truly unqualified he really is! Hopefully he will prove to be a "one term wonder" ("wonder" why he got elected) and be on his way out at the end of his term.

Well, that shows the state of the school board, with two rookies voted as chair and vice-chair. I say anyone but Stultz and Angelucci. Of course Banks is certifiable and Morgan can't be trusted and neither appear competent to make any professional decisions either, much less our children's future.

But at least we are rid of one of the worst board members in the state with Bartlett. Hopefully she goes away and is not in the position of making any decisions for other people's children ever.

With all the high level defections in the BOE office recently, we can only hope that somehow the board can do less harm than in the past. Of course with Stultz, Angelucci, Banks, Morgan and Hinojosa still in place there is not much hope of that.

Hinojosa thinks he's so great because he has 20 years of experience and yet he supported the re-hiring of Joe Sharp at Sprayberry. It wouldn't have taken much investigation to see the ties Sharp had to Gary Boling and realize that Cobb County was lucky to be rid of both of them. Will he try to bring back others who did significant damage to Cobb County. I worked with Randy and think he'll be a great asset to the system. I only regret that I wasn't in the district to vote for him

Common Sense

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January 10, 2013

As you get to know Scamihorn, you will realize he is a down to earth guy with a common sense approach to eduction and life in general. He has served Cobb well being an outstanding teacher and an influential administrator. His leadership will shine! What an excellent move for the board.

I could not agree with you more. Randy is a life long public servant. He is an outstanding leader and I am so glad the other board members recognized this so quickly. I have heard only GREAT things about Brad. I look forward to getting to know him better as I watch him serve on the BOE. I feel so positive about the BOE as they move forward with these wonderful men. Cobb is so luck to have them!!!!!

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